I haven’t posted often, but wanted to share that I went into 2 shoes at 8 weeks. No lifts in my shoes, so it was a little painful at first. I have mean limp that is getting better every day. I ride the stationary bike at home and got brave this weekend and cut my lawn…..very slowly……. I felt productive again. I know my wife is happy she doesn’t have to do it anymore.

I’m excited, but still taking it easy. I’ve seen too many warnings on this site that people re-repture within the first 12 weeks. I’m not havin that.

I had my 2nd follow up appointment earlier this week. Doc said I was healing well and said and it was time start PT. I was given a slight plan of attack for my rehab. It’s still ok to walk around the house without crutches in the boot. I can work myself off crutches completely over the next 3 weeks. After that, I am to wear the boot and work my way out of that over the next 3 weeks. The plan is to walk around the house at night for an hour barefoot for a few nights and build to 2 hours and so on until I reach about 4 hours. Then I should be able to start taking adventures with 2 shoes outside. So that gives me about 8 weeks before 2 shoes from date of surgery if I calculated that right. I was told to coordinate this with my PT of course. Doc says that he’s comfortable with me being able manage my way through the therapy, so he says, “see you in 8 weeks!” Only I won’t because he’s moving out of state. But that’ another story.

Attended my first PT and the therapist was suprised to see me so soon after surgery. Only 4 weeks. PT asked me what restrictions I had and I let him know that basically, I can walk on the boot at home as long as I can handle the discomfort and there is no pain. I’m just not able to walk without the boot at this time. Again, the therapist was a little suprised. So the dilema I now face is that I have an agressive surgeon and a conservative PT. Who do I listen to? Probably my body.

My dorsiflexion is at -26 degrees, which is a good starting point the therapist says. The therapist poked and prodded a little, but I didn’t feel any pain. This was just the evaluation phase though. A little electric stim on the foot and I was out the door. I’m anxious to get this rolling and make some incremental progress.

My first office visit post op, 10 days after surgery, went well. I’m off the pain meds now and ready to move on with this process. I was looking forward to having the splint removed and giving my leg a chance to breathe while the doc examines and decides what to do with me. To my surprise I didn’t have have any stitches. I had 15 staples in my ankle instead. The PA asked if I had ever had staples removed before. I said no, and she says “Let me know if you need to take a break at any time while I’m removing them.” Not what I wanted to hear. I asked for the anesthesiolgist and she thought I was joking, so I laughed and pretended I was joking. Took her all of 30 seconds to remove the staples, and I felt no pain. Got me all worked up for nothing.

Doc comes in and in 15 seconds says, you’re healing well. Let’s put you in a boot. For reals? YES! And only 10 days out. Can’t decide if this is a good sign for me, or if my doc is just crazy. Doc says he thinks it’s better to be aggressive in my situation. Although my rupture was considered total, the tendon was actually hanging on by a thread. The tear happened closer to the calf muscle, so there is good blood flow in his words. I also didn’t lose the sheath that surrounds the tendon. Lucky me, I guess.

I was given the physical therapy referral form so that I can start searching now for a good therapist. The doc says I can do some home therapy now, which would include simple flexing and extension as pain will allow. I can walk in the boot around the house, but need crutches when I go out or go to work. In another two weeks I can start seeing a physical therapist. Doc thinks I may be able to be off crutches by that time and maybe in two shoes a few weeks from then.

Anyone else working on an accelerated program like this? I’m grateful and fearful of a re-rupture at the same time. Doc says that since the suture was attached to my calf muscle, there is a risk that I would pull the suture through the calf before I tear the achilles again at this stage. Thanks doc. I feel better now.

So after 2 weeks, I finally convince my primary care physician that I need to see a specialist. The orthopedic specialist takes about 10 seconds to figure out that I tore my achilles and I’m sent for an MRI. I get rushed into surgery the day after the doc reviews the MRI results because my tendon is hanging on by a thread and I’m already 3 weeks out from the injury date already.

Didn’t know what to expect post op. What I got was a splint, a purple sock and whole lot of pain and swelling. I can’t tell exactly where the pain is coming from, but sometimes it reaches a level that is almost unbearable. Just when I think the pain is getting under control, I adjust my leg a bit and the pain comes rushing back again. They say the pain subsides after a couple of days. All I know is that Norco is my friend right now. I take 1 of those every 4 hours and an aspirin a day to keep my blood thin to avoid blood clots. Going to keep the leg propped up and listen to my wife this time.

So I signed up for a men’s basketball league. I just wanted to start playing the game I love and get some exercise. It’s the 4th game of the season and I’ve already missed the previous game because I was nursing a hyper-extended thumb. I’m determined not to miss another game. But since I was out, someone else took over my starting position, which was fine with me. Except, I’m usually playing in the game right after warming up.

This time I warm up and go straight to the bench and sit out the first 10 minutes of the game. I’ve been watching this whole time and can’t wait to get in. So I finally get in the game and run back on defense. A shot goes up and our team grabs the rebound. I stop my backpedal, brace myself to run to the offensive end and all of a sudden somebody kicks me in the back of the leg with all their force. I turn around to see what in the world is going on. There is nobody there but the ref and he’s 10 feet away. The ref takes one look at my face, blows the whistle and yells “Injury time out.” I’m confused at this point. Who’s injured? I try to take a step and my foot doesn’t work. Yeah…….i’m who’s injured.

I hop off the court with the help from some random guy (where are my teammates?). I sit on the bench and reach to feel my tendon but can’t find it. I feel no pain, but psychologically I’m absolutely devastated. Did I really just do what I think I did? Random guy helps me to my truck. It’s my left foot, s0 I can still drive. Random guy says, “Don’t be a tough guy and think you can ice this and walk it off. Go to the emergency room and get this taken care of. It’s serious.” I tell him I will.

So off to the emergency room, right? Not exactly. Despite the protests of my wife and parents, I decide I’ll sleep it off, go to work the next day and setup an appointment to have it looked at when I get the chance.